HispanicVista Columnists
Prohibition: The Formula for Failure
By
Sal Osio, JD
From the Publisher's Corner
Prohibition: The Formula for Failure
By Sal Osio, JD
During the Prohibition era in the '30's, our country experienced the highest incidence of violence, lawlessness, criminality and political corruption in its history - a tenfold more than Colombia and Mexico combined currently experience. The insatiable consumption for alcohol among our citizenry gave birth to the 'speak easy' and nurtured a criminal underground of Al Capone styled gangsters who ran a mock of in a society which boasted of being the epitome of law and order.
Has anything changed?
The short answer is 'yes.' After Prohibition was repealed and alcohol was once more regulated and freely obtainable, our gangsters disappeared. And corruption was also regulated through legalized lobbying. We killed two birds with one stone.
The real answer, however, is 'no.' A 'recreational drug' - cannabis, aka marijuana or pot - was substituted as the prohibited drug of choice among our American consumers. The consequence is identical to our previous experience during the Prohibition: Narco traffic generated crime, violence, lawlessness, corruption ... all of the same symptoms as before. This time, however, is much worse: We exported the consequences of our consumption abroad, particularly, to our neighbor, Mexico. And, instead of apologizing for our intransigence, our insatiable demand which generates foreign based supply sources, we blame our neighbors for our peccadillo. But hypocrisy and blaming others for our own trespasses doesn't solve the problem.
Over one-half of our detention facilities are filled with drug users and distributors. The cost to our judicial system and law enforcement exceeds $150 billion yearly. And this doesn't take into account the damage to our neighbors. Mexico, for instance, lost over 2,000 lives this year in narcotics related violence. And, our neighbor is seriously diluted in its law enforcement and judiciary institutions as a result of a rampant corruption financed by the drug lords.
Basta! Let's recover our sanity and put an end to this madness.
We must control cannabis the way we do alcohol and tobacco. In mental distortion and health impairment these drugs are the alter ego of each other. They are equally as bad, albeit some protagonists allege that cannabis is the lesser of the evils. Regulation through legalization is the effective control of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of the drug. Through controlled consumption the drug trafficker is replaced by the licensed tax paying grower and distributor. Violence, corruption and futile drug enforcement would be a thing of the past. Our jails would be half-empty and we would save over $100 billion a year that we could allocate to social programs, such as assisting the homeless.
U.S. grown cannabis, today, is an illegal crop with a market value approaching $40 billion a year. California cultivates one-third of the pot consumed in the country, although the sate only counts with 14% of the consumption. California's cannabis crop estimated at $15 billion exceeds the combined value of grapes, vegetables and hay. In reality, cannabis is a principal crop in our country and has de facto acceptance. Nationwide the crop exceeds the combined value of such staple crops as corn ($23 billion) and soybeans ($17 billion). In short, cannabis, de facto, is a strategic crop in our agricultural economy. So why kid ourselves?
The above facts are referenced in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Office of National Control Policy and, more recently, in a report released by Jon Gettman, PhD, an authoritative marijuana public policy think tank director. Relying on published government statistics the reality is clear: Cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. (www.marijuanalibrary.org - www.drugscience.org - www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org - www.marijuananews.com)
If we regulate the cultivation of cannabis, we should do it sensibly, and restrict cultivation to home grown crops, where we can control the quality, tax and regulate the drug. We should restrict its distribution through state regulated licensed outlets such as the existing network of liquor and package retailers that distribute liquor. And, equally as important, we should tax marijuana the same way we tax liquor and tobacco and raise a few billion dollars per year for social programs instead of waisting billions of dollars per year foolishly.
- The first to thank us for our wisdom and prudence will be Mexico whose government and society is a principal victim of our intransigence.
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- Sal Osio, JD is the Publisher of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) Contact at: SPosio@aol.com